The Vatican Information Service is a news service, founded in the Holy See Press Office, that provides information about the Magisterium and the pastoral activities of the Holy Father and the Roman Curia...[+]

Last 5 news

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Vatican City, 25 June 2015 (VIS) – A
delegation from B'nai B'rith International (“Children of the
Covenant”), a Jewish non-governmental organisation of a
philanthropic nature founded in 1843, which opposes anti-Semitism in
all its forms and promotes human rights, was received in audience by
Pope Francis this morning. B'nai B'rith established contacts with the
Holy See following the promulgation of the conciliar declaration
Nostra Aetate which, as the Holy Father mentioned, “constituted a
milestone on the path of mutual knowledge and esteem between Jews and
Catholics, based on the great spiritual patrimony that, thanks be to
God, we share in common”.

During the last fifty years of regular
dialogue between the Catholic Church and Judaism, great steps have
been taken in fostering mutual trust and appreciation. “Respect for
life and creation, human dignity, justice and solidarity unite us for
the development of society and for securing a future rich in hope for
generations to come. In a particular way, we are called to pray and
work together for peace. Unfortunately, there are many countries and
regions of the world that live in situations of conflict – I think
in particular of the Holy Land and the Middle East – and that
require a courageous commitment to peace, which is not only to be
longed for, but sought after and built up patiently and tenaciously
by everyone, especially believers”.

Francis recalled with profound
gratitude all those who have worked to promote friendship between
Jews and Catholics, and mentioned St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II
in particular. “The first saved many Jews during the Second World
War, he met with them numerous times, and greatly desired a conciliar
document on this theme. Regarding St. John Paul II, his various
historical gestures remain very much alive in our memories, such as
his visit to Auschwitz and to the Great Synagogue of Rome. With the
help of God, I wish to walk in their footsteps, encouraged too by the
many beautiful encounters and friendships I enjoyed in Buenos Aires”,
the Pope concluded.

Vatican City, 25 June 2015 (VIS) - “The
mission you will one day be called to carry out will take you all
over the world. In Europe, which needs to be reawakened; in Africa,
which thirsts for reconciliation; in Latin America, which hungers for
nourishment and inwardness; in North America, intent on rediscovering
the roots of an identity that does not define itself in terms of
exclusion; in Asia and Oceania, challenged by the capacity for
transformation in diaspora and by dialogue with the immensity of
ancestral cultures”. With these words, Pope Francis received in
audience the students who are about to complete their studies in the
Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the Holy See institution charged
with the formation of the diplomats who will work in the nunciatures
and the Secretary of State.

In his address, the Holy Father
highlighted various aspects of the path ahead of them, starting with
their mission. “You are preparing to represent the Holy See in the
Community of Nations and in the local Churches you are destined for.
The Holy See is the see of the bishop of Rome, of the Church that
presides in charity, that is based not on vain pride but rather on
the daily courage of the condescension or abasement of her Master.
The true authority of the Church of Rome is Christ's charity. This is
the sole force that renders her universal and credible for man and
for the world: this is the heart of her truth, that does not erect
walls of division and exclusion, but instead forms bridges to build
up communion and to recall the unity of humanity; this is her secret
strength, that feeds her tenacious hope, invincible despite momentary
defeats. It is not possible to represent someone without reflecting
their features, without evoking their face. Jesus said, 'Whoever has
seen me has seen the Father'. You are not called to be the high
functionaries of a State ... welcome in worldly salons, but rather
the guardians of a truth that supports those who offer it, and not
the opposite. It is important that you do not let yourselves be
depleted by continual transfers; instead, it is necessary to
cultivate deep roots, to protect the memory of why you embarked on
this path, and not to be hollowed out by cynicism nor to lose sight
of the face of He Who is at the origin of your journey”.

Likewise, he reiterated that the
Academy specifically aims to prepare future diplomats to consider the
realities they will encounter and to love them, even with their
limitations. “You prepare, indeed, to become 'bridges', pacifying
and facing with prayer and in spiritual battle the tendency to regard
oneself as above others, the assumed superiority of view that impedes
access to the substance of reality, the claim of already knowing
enough. To do this it is necessary not to transpose into the field in
which you work your own patterns of understanding, your own cultural
parameters, your own ecclesial background”.

“The service to which you have been
called requires you to protect the freedom of the Holy See, which so
as not to betray her mission before God and for the true good of
mankind cannot be imprisoned by the logic of cartels, taken hostage
by the accounting division of factions, accept the division among
consuls, submit to political powers and to be colonised by the
current dominant streams of thought or the illusory hegemony of the
mainstream. You are called to seek, in the Churches and in the
populations among whom you live, and whom you serve, the good that
must be encouraged. To best fulfil this mission it is necessary to
set aside the attitude of the judge and to don the robes of the
pedagogue, of one who is able to release the potential for good that
God does not fail to sow in the Churches”.

“I exhort you not to expect to find
the terrain ready, but rather to have the courage to plough it with
your hands, without tractors or other more effective means which we
will never have at our disposal – to prepare it for sowing,
awaiting the harvest with God's patience; a harvest of which you may
not be the beneficiary. Do not fish in aquaria or farms, but instead
have the courage to leave behind the safe margins of what is already
known and to cast your nets and rods in less obvious seas”.

Vatican City, 25 June 2015 (VIS) –
The Holy Father has sent a telegram of condolences to the Patriarchal
Synod of the Patriarchate of Cilicia of the Armenians, Beirut, for
the sudden death of the Patriarch, His Beatitude Nerses Bedros XIX
Tarmouni, at the age of 75.

The Pope expresses his heartfelt
condolences to the faithful of the Patriarchate and recalls his close
collaboration with the Patriarch, one of the most prominent
consequences of which is the recent declaration of St. Gregory of
Narek as a Doctor of the Church.

“I entrust to the merciful Father the
soul of this devoted pastor who, as a priest dedicated himself
tirelessly to the service of the communities for whom he was
responsible, and later, as bishop, carried out his ministry with
faith and zeal, first in Alexandria and then as Patriarch of Cilicia
of the Armenians. I join in prayer with all those who are affected by
his sudden passing and convey my apostolic blessing, in particular to
the bishops of the Patriarchate of Cilicia of the Armenians, the
family of the deceased and all those who are to attend his funeral”.

Vatican City, 25 June 2015 (VIS) –
This morning in the Holy See Press Office a press conference was held
to present the Eighth World Meeting of Families, to be held in
Philadelphia, U.S.A., from 22 to 27 September this year, on the theme
“Love is our mission. The family fully alive”. The speakers were
Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Council for
the Family; Archbishop Charles Joseph Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. of
Philadelphia with his auxiliary, Bishop John J. McIntyre, and Jerry
and Lucille Francesco, a couple from the same archdiocese, now
married for fifty years.

Archbishop Paglia emphasised that the
Meeting is a valuable opportunity to place the family at the centre
of the Church and of civil society. “It is a duty”, he said,
explaining that the meeting is about and for families, who are its
protagonists and main recipients. “The family builds the Church and
sustains society. … During the days of the conference, we will
present the results of some international research that has
scientifically studied this positive influence. The family constantly
asks for help and support in the entire ecclesial community – and
in the next few days I will write to all the monasteries of the world
to ask them to accompany these very important days with their prayers
– and from civil society as a whole, which cannot remain
indifferent to such beauty and goodness that is so effective and so
viable”.

The prelate went on to highlight the
global nature of the event, and the hope that it will be seen and
reported on worldwide. “The family is the heritage of all humanity,
at every latitude, in every culture; it is blessed by all religions.
That is why we wanted a significant presence of other Christian
denominations and of major world religious traditions. … We are
working so that delegations from around the globe and especially from
the world's poorest local Churches will be present. Philadelphia will
be a great worldwide celebration of families: in the spectacle, we
will be able to get a glimpse, we will have to show the beauty and
the possibility of all humanity becoming a single family of peoples.
It is the dream of peace; it is God's dream”.

This universality will be enshrined in
the final gesture of the meeting: the archbishop revealed that at the
end of Mass on Sunday, 27 September, Pope Francis will give the
Gospel of Luke, “the Good News of God's mercy, which is Jesus, to
families from big cities on the five continents: Kinshasa, Africa;
Havana, America; Hanoi, Asia; Sydney, Australia; and Marseilles,
Europe. This is a symbolic gesture that will announce the sending of
a million copies of this book to the five cities involved. We want
the Gospel of Mercy to be announced in the great cities of the world
so that they may build bonds of love between them, in the Church and
in society”.

The archbishop of Philadelphia gave
some data on the Meeting, which more than a million people are
expected to attend, and from which representatives of more than a
hundred nations have registered. So far 6,100 volunteers have offered
assistance of various types and the event organisers intend to make
more than 5,000 buses available. More than 1,600 people have signed
up to the “Host a Family” programme.

For more information on the events
linked to the meeting, see http://www.worldmeeting2015.org/